This has reference to the page-one news item — Despite
protests, Sonia Gandhi weaves magic at UN and community reception — published in
India Tribune dated October 12. It was nauseating seeing the gushing sycophancy
of the hangers-on of Italy-born Congress president Sonia Gandhi, who has been
chosen to represent India at the United Nations. The only solace lies in the
fact that as perhaps no one in India had been ready to honor Mahatma Gandhi,
Sonia Gandhi grabbed the opportunity. I know it is going against the grain, and
will invite howls of protestation at my saying that Gandhi was not so much an
apostle of peace as a deeply disturbed man, who spent a lifetime drumming the
rhetoric of non-violence to cover up and deflect attention from his deep seated
fixation problems. Yet, as Gandhi himself would have conceded, truth should
trump every other consideration. It is impossible to even list here the
eccentric behaviors to which Gandhi was addicted to, and which were the cause of
so much death and destruction, and which no psychoanalyst will doubt arose from
his fixation. I will give here a bare sketch of those that had profound effect
upon the destiny of India. Gandhi was primarily responsible for drastically
altering the methods and constitution of the Indian National Congress during the
years 1919-1920. It alienated almost the entire cadre of its senior members,
including C.R. Das and Jinnah. The latter could immediately see the disruptive
nature of these non-cooperation tactics and warned that it would dangerously
divide the Congress and the nation and stimulate illegal activities and
degenerate into prolonged violence. From a responsible party, which was
dedicated to obtain Independence through constitutional means, it became an
off-center party completely dominated by a half naked ascetic, who inextricably
mixed up the politics of independence with his religious and spiritual
preoccupations, and brought in all kinds of half insane extraneous agendas such
as opposition to industrialization and technology, advocacy of life-long
celibacy, preoccupation with cleaning latrines, spinning cotton, fasting and
other half-baked yogic practices that derailed the entire focus of the
independence movement In the Nagpur Congress meeting of 1921, when Jinnah
refused to address Gandhi as Mahatma, insisting upon Mr., he was heckled by
Gandhi supporters with cries of “Shame, shame” and “imposter” —a little
reflection would show us the irony as to who was the imposter. Jinnah asked
Gandhi to intervene before it is too late, but Gandhi shrewdly refused. Jinnah
immediately saw his constituency had no standing against a Hindu leader, who was
already a Mahatma. Should one blame him for breaking his ties with Congress and
envisioning a separate land for his people? Gandhi’s first nationwide Satyagraha
of 1922, hoisted on the platform of “Swaraj within an year,” had so much public
support that the British were not only afraid to jail him, but were brought to
their knees and were on the verge of giving him whatever he wanted. But on a
flimsy excuse of some violence having occurred against police in Chaura Chauri,
Gandhi did an abrupt about-face, calling off the movement. The British not only
locked him up right away, they never ever hesitated to jail him again, fully
realizing his love for going to jail over getting independence. It should not
surprise us either that the riots immediately broke out between Hindus and
Muslims, hitherto united against the British, in the wake of the terrible
let-down. The entire nation was suffused with an unstoppable energy that had to
be vented. The majority of Indian youth never trusted Gandhi again, knowing that
the great leader’s method did not go beyond putting everyone in jail. All his
subsequent non-cooperative ventures were just a repetition of this pattern. On
surface, these movements appeared as non-violent disobedience, but in reality
they were pointless, subtly unrealistic and caused unnecessary death and
destruction. If one has any doubts about this analysis contrast Gandhi’s
immediate halting of the movement after Chaura Chauri because it violated the
spirit of non-violence with his “go or fie” directive of 1942 and its barely
concealed desire for violence. In place of accepting Cripp’s offer of complete
independence with Dominion status — such as Canada and Australia have — with the
option of abrogating the dominion status anytime in future — he started his
misguided “Quit India” movement. In disgust, Leo Amery, the Secretary of State
for India, declared Gandhi an “Expert wrecker.” If only he had accepted the
British offer in 1942, the Partition would never have taken place nor the loss
of millions of lives. It is paradoxical but true that often the world rather
honor and follow its false prophets, ideologies, and leaders than the true ones.
Such is the self-destructive jealousy of the human heart. Gandhi as one of the
greatest ideals of mankind is the prime example of this human folly.